Celebrity Chef Nigella Lawson Admits Cocaine Use

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 file photo, English food writer, journalist and broadcaster, Nigella Lawson poses during the 28th MIPCOM (International Film and Programme Market for Tv, Video,Cable and Satellite) in Cannes, southeastern France. British police say they are investigating after a newspaper published photos of Nigella Lawson's husband Charles Saatchi with his hands around the celebrity chef's throat. The Sunday People newspaper ran pictures of what it said was the couple's violent argument at a London restaurant on June 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)

LONDON (AP) -- Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has admitted in a U.K. court that she has taken cocaine a handful of times. But she denied habitually using illegal drugs and accused her ex-husband of spreading that allegation to savage her reputation.

Lawson said ex-husband Charles Saatchi had threatened to destroy her if she did not clear his name after he was photographed gripping her throat outside a London restaurant, a widely published image that was soon followed by a divorce.

Coverage of the trial has focused more on the couple's failed marriage and their tempestuous home life than on allegations that two women working for them were fraudulently using their credit cards.

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